A Picture
by LiddoAiren
Summary: She was so small when he left to become stronger. She would never know who he was, but he didn't mind. All he needed was the picture he kept with him through the years. It didn't matter to him that she didn't recognize him. All that mattered was that she was safe and living her life. That's all this brother could wish for.
**A/N: This is something that I wrote within less than an hour and I wanted to publish it ASAP, so please forgive this _anh trai_ for his mistakes in the story. After playing the bowman explorer and Ellin forest quest lines, I became extremely motivated to write this. Don't know if I'll go further but...yeah, that's all there is to it XD.**

 **Some spoilers for the Ellin Forest quest and the Bowman explorer quest line in Maplestory. I own nothing except for my own character, Yanis, and this terrible piece I wrote.**

 **Please read and review! You can be harsh in your reviews if you want, it'll help me become a better writer.**

* * *

 _"Yo! Kao!"_

" _Tess, I've told you many times not to call me that! I'm not Kao!"_

" _Sorry, sorry! It's just crazy how alike you two look! I'm not even kidding! You have his face, his attitude, and even his mannerisms! My bad, Yanis."_

" _Yeah, sure. You keep saying that, but you never really break that habit."_

" _Sorry, sorry. So what're you up to?"_

" _Nothing much, really. I just decided to take a break from all this exploring. With everything that's been going on, it's making the entire world hectic. The Black Mage returning and all, and me getting ready to go on a mission with the Cygnus Knights and Resistance, I never realized how tired I was until now."_

 _The boy named Tess placed his arm around the neck of the other boy, named Yanis._

" _Well, as a lazy bum myself, I can't even hope to imagine what you're going through…" Tess laughed._

" _Oh come on, don't flatter me. I'm sure with all the years that you've lived, you've been more than I've been through. Leaving your family behind to keep them safe and become stronger, and watching your little sister grow up from afar. It must be painful. Come to think of it, after all these years, how come you've never talked to her? Much less your mother?" Yanis asked._

" _My mother actually passed away not long after she gave birth to Kyrin…and I'm sure I told you this already, but when I ran away to become stronger, Kyrin was barely a month old. If I talked to her now, she wouldn't even recognize me…"_

 _Yanis nodded his head. When he had gone back in time and visited Ellin forest, Yuris, their mother was still pregnant with Kyrin at the time, and Tess was already well into his pre-teen years or maybe even older considering his elf heritage. He also somewhat understood Tess's unwillingness to experience his little sister not being able to recognize him._

" _But shouldn't you at least try? Or maybe befriend her at the least?"_

…

" _Tess?" Yanis asked again._

" _Hey Kao…I-I mean Yanis, can I ask you something?"_

" _Sure."_

" _I can trust you, right?"_

" _Um…yeah. Why?"_

 _Tess then handed Yanis a flat rectangular sheet of paper. "Could you keep this for me?"_

" _What's this?" Yanis asked, examining the paper. Upon further inspection, he realized that not only was it an old picture, but a picture of Athena Pierce, Tess, and Yuris holding a baby Kyrin. Strange…why did Tess give this to him?_

" _What do you want me to keep this for?"_

" _I'm a lazy guy, K- I mean, Yanis, and I'm also prone to getting myself into trouble, and often times I lose things. I've kept that picture for a long time, but with everything that's been going on lately, I'm afraid that I might lose that too. It's all I have left of my family…besides Kyrin. Yanis, I know you're a responsible and protective person, just like Kao. That's why I'm giving this to you, because I know you'll keep it safe for me."_

" _Tess…"_

" _So Yanis, could I trust you to keep this safe for me?" Tess pleaded._

" _Of course. But why now? What's going on?" Yanis asked._

" _I have to do more investigating for the Silent Crusade. Lately the Mystic Gates have been acting up and I'm scared… I'm scared of what's gonna happen to this world. Reports have been coming in that this is the Black Mage's doing." Tess chuckled lightly, "I want to do whatever I can to keep this world safe. I want to make sure Kyrin gets the chance to live her life to the fullest and without regrets. So if I die from this Kao, you'll have something to remember me by…And something to give to Kyrin as an apology from me."_

" _Tess!"_

" _I'm joking! I'm joking! Well, it's time for me to go. I'll see you later Kao. Pray to Rhinne for me, alright?" Tess laughed as he sped away into the distance._

" _I'm not Kao!" Yanis yelled furiously._

* * *

It had been months since that conversation between the archer and pirate had happened. Since then, the pirate, Tess, had wandered the world, training to become stronger while still in his investigations while Yanis, the archer, had embarked on a mission to destroy the world's current threat, a gigantic ship by the name of "Black Heaven". After the ship's destruction, Yanis returned to Maple Island happy to be back home and reunited with his friends.

Or most of them at least.

"Where's Tess?" he asked, "He hasn't returned from his investigations yet?"

All four of them scratched their heads.

"You haven't heard?" Asked Rondo.

"Heard what?"

"Tess is currently on the run…" replied Sugar.

It took a while for Yanis to process.

"On the run?! From what? Have the mystic gates gone out of control?" Yanis asked, gripping his bag, which held Tess's picture.

Olive chuckled. "Don't worry Yanis, it's not as serious as you think it is…or maybe it is. Here, check this out." She said, as she removed a sheet of paper from her bag.

Upon inspection, Yanis noticed that it was a WANTED poster, with Tess's picture on it and at the bottom of the poster was a note telling whoever had captured Tess was to bring him to Kyrin alive.

Before anyone could make a comment, desperate calls were heard from a boy running towards them.

"GUYS…GUYS!" he called, huffing and puffing as he ran.

"Tess!" they all shouted.

"HIDE ME! PLEASE! THEY'RE AFTER ME!" he shouted, running behind the huge maple tree.

"Tess, what's going on?!" Olive asked, "Why is Kyrin after you?!"

"I…I don't know!" he huffed. "There's literally no business she could have with me! I haven't done anything! If you guys see her and she asks for me, tell her I didn't do it!"

Less than a few seconds had passed before a huge mob of pirates came towards the group, cuffs at the ready.

"What do we do?!" Sugar cried desperately, "None of us can handle that many!"

"Then I guess our only option is to grab Tess and run! Yanis, you do it!" Rondo said, as he and the rest of the group (save for Tess) started to dash through the island, hoping to catch the ship to Victoria Island before it left.

"Aw man, me?!" Yanis cried, but nevertheless lifted Tess and ran along, catching up to the group within seconds.

"Man you're heavy!" Yanis huffed as he ran. Soon, the ship to Victoria Island came into sight, and everybody, save for the mob, rushed onto the ship just as the captain was blocking further entry.

Yanis then dropped Tess onto the floor, causing him to elicit a small "ow" as he and the rest of the group collapsed, all breathing heavily and exhausted from running.

"Seriously…what the heck was that?" Olive asked nobody in particular.

"A good workout?" Rondo asked. But nobody replied, for everyone was too busy trying to recapture lost oxygen.

"I just don't understand it, out of all the pirates, why is she after me?" Tess asked, standing up.

"Maybe she has a good reason?" Sugar asked.

"But what would that be? I can't think of any logical one except…wait..Ka-Yanis?"

"Yeah?"

"You still have the photo I gave you, right?"

"Of course!" Yanis then dug into his bag (which was open, to his surprise) to look for the photo, hoping to prove that Kyrin didn't yet know the truth.

…

"Huh? Where'd it go? I'm certain that I left it here…"

…

"It's…not here…"

…

"Did it perhaps drop while I was on the Black Heaven?"

"W-Wait Yanis…wasn't Kyrin…also on the…Black…Heaven…?" Tess asked, realization crawling on him.

"Yeah, wh…oooooooohhhhhhh noooooooo…." Yanis whispered, stretching out the long "O" sound.

…

…

…

"KAO! WHYYYYYYY?!"

* * *

 **(Some time later)**

She couldn't believe her eyes. To think that he was so close to her and she never knew...

"You don't have to tell me anything...Athena already told me..." she said, as she tightly held the picture in her hands. There was so much she wanted to ask, but through all her disbelief at the man...or boy standing in front of her, she could only muster a few words.

"It really IS you!"

* * *

 **Oh yeah, just a quick little piece of trivia for you guys if you haven't found out yet: (Minor spoilers for the explorer storyline)**

 **Mercedes**

 **Aran**

 **Phantom**

 **Luminous**

 **Evan (EunWol and Freud too! Can't forget them)**

 **Sugar**

 **Tess**

 **Olive**

 **Rondo**

 **You (or some name that starts with a "Y")**

 **Now read the first letters of every name from top to bottom starting from Mercedes!**


End file.
